Matter in hands of police: Gainey

Canadiens GM Bob Gainey met with the media in Florida this afternoon and said the team will take no disciplinary action against Ryan O’Byrne or Tom Kostopoulos. He said the matter is now in the hands of the players and the police.

Gainey said he found out about the situation when he arrived at the Miami airport at 9 a.m. today. He added that he’s uncertain whether a conviction would result in O’Byrne having any immigration problems.

77 Comments

Well, hopefully they will take as much spunk into the game with the Bolts as they did at the bar. Now at least they will have something else to think of besides the whupping they took at the hands of the Sens.Poor Gainey, he needs a locker room general. Where is Knuckles or tiger Williams when you need him. They would give O’Byrne and Kop a talking too on what it means to wear an NHL jersey. Smarten up boys, you can be replaced.

I think this entire matter needs to be placed in some comparative perspective. When baseball players are being investigated and subpoenaed by the US Congress for rampant drug abuse, when NFL players are being convicted of homicides and its coaches are shamelessly (and with impunity, it would seem) violating basic league rules, this looks all rather minor, doesn’t it?

I have not been able to watch a baseball game in 13 years because the league, its owners, and its players disgust me. If the players apologise for their poor judgment, then let it be.
_________________________________________“It’s not a lie if you believe it.”
–George Costanza, “Seinfeld”

I’m sure Bob will be able to handle this little incident. Remember, he was the GM of Dallas when Eddie Belfour was arrested for being drunk and disorderly with a woman at a hotel. Then when the police came to arrest him, he offered the cops a “Billion” dollar bribe to let him go. (I still get a chuckle when I try to visualize it….Eddie wearing his mask with handcuffs bribing the cops for a BILLION dollars…haha!)

These guys are young and making alot of $$. And in O’Byrne’s case, its his first chance to taste the “pro” life. I only hope its a one off. I hope the team leaders; Koivu, Kovy, Komi and Higgins have a talk with these guys. It casts a bad shadow on everyone and its a distraction they don’t need.

However I don’t believe in making excuses for pro athlete’s. Its a privilage they have earned and should use better discretion.

As many idiot pranks do, this one went south. As I said in an earlier post, it’s amazing to me that more of these wealthy young athletes don’t end up making similarly boneheaded mistakes. As it stands, I’m going to dismiss this as a couple eejits acting like morons and making their team and the rest of us look bad (I mean REALLY, stealing a PURSE), until I see a cellphone video on youtube that proves otherwise.

Shape up, lads, there’s still a lot of hockey to be played, and in case you hadn’t noticed, we kinda been stinkin up the joint here past few games.

skoehn wrote: “…and seriously why didn’t he just say he was looking in the cell phone for the owners number to get it back?”

Yeah that is a better explanation than the Tampa Bay police’s version – and remember that so far, their version is the only one out there since the Habs’ lawyers have obviously advised them not to say anything just yet.

Frankly, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for a guy making over half a mil in salary to be lifting somebody’s purse. I am a little disappointed to see how quickly so many posters here (Boone included) have been piling on. We simply don’t have the whole story yet, and the details we do have don’t add up. Prudence suggests we reserve judgment on the matter for now.

What a bush league peformance by the Tampa police, i can understand the officers being lost, but back at the precinct thay could have handled it better….the so called doorman are also exactly that…what a joke

where was bob coming from? if it was montreal, the first scheduled flight lands at 10am (AA2297 departing YUL at 6:15am). if it was a PJ, he had to take off at 5am. who does that? maybe he was coming in from somewhere closer, like Atlanta?

Was it an authentic Louis Vuitton purse or a knock-off? If it’s a knock-off, you might be able to counter-charge the woman in question with possession of counterfeit goods and settle the whole matter out of court. Perhaps Ryan and Tom could buy her a real one just to patch things up?

How many ppl actually think he stole the purse and the money… and seriously why didn’t he just say he was looking in the cell phone for the owners number to get it back. that would have made more sense then its my girls…. they must have a few to many drinks… and price in not old enough to drink in the states…

Tom, I think it’s more likely Gainey’s headed to Florida for some relaxation in the sun for a few days, while maybe checking out some assets he might be interested in from Tampa or the Panthers on the lower end of the value scale.

If Jokinen really comes to Montreal, I’ll need a crash cart. I’d love to see it when they revive me, though!

There’s no way bob didn’t know about this before hand. Two of his players are in jail and carbo doesn’t call the boss right away. I for one don’t buy it. If he was planning some sort of vacation he would of travelled with the team. I really doubt he is vacationing 2 weeks before the trade deadline.

This is exactly what the team needed; I’m tired of people saying it was a disgrace. This will bring them together even more, way to got for Tom Kost sticking up for his teammates (on and off the ice). Nothing better than an old laugh in the dressing room for the players before important games!! And believe me this breaks the ice…..at least for OB

Ooops boo boo!
You’re right Chuck, April 11! Not February 11!
E-mail me buddy and leave your phone number so I can call you with more details of this event. I’m sure Ian has kept you on top of things so far pertaining to this event.

Not condoning boorish conduct nor am I saying O’Bryne did anything ( I don’t think he stole someone’s purse – at worst a bonehead dumb move probably fueled by alcohol) but remember the Duke lacrosse team before rushing to judgment.

But you have to understand the fact that Football players do not have to cross the border to play football games, whereas Hockey players do, and this could impede their Future in the NHL if these convictions stand, and charges are pressed…

I love how RDS reports that the Tampa Bay police station didnt know what to do with all the phone calls coming in. Apparently they were completely overwhelmed and surprised by the canadian media calling.

Shame on RDS, however, for not blurring out the addresses of both Kostopolous and O’Byrne when they showed the police report. And it wasnt even in small writing, it was blatantly obvious. Poor choice of the producers. Lets give these men a little respect.

it was their tv report! sorry!
an even though its not a static image, you can clearly see their addresses, as the camera stays on them for an extended amount of time.
Try and catch the report on RIS or RDS today, thats where I saw it. They keep replaying it.

To be fair, even though getting access revoked is a major concern for most media, the Habs would NEVER make as much money or get as much publicity as they do now if they weren’t partnered with RDS.

Not to mention their extended TV agreement and the fact that if RDS didn’t do its job and report all these details, what kind of media outlet would it be? We’d be thinking that the Habs have them in their front pocket.